Sens Lose 2-1 to Devils

The Devils came out in the first and lived up to their reputation. They suffocated the Senators, constantly pressuring the puck and not giving up any open ice. The Senators were awarded one power-play and weren’t even able to setup. The result was a 2 shot period for the Senators, while the Devils were able to direct 9 at Lehner. Neither goaltender would let one by and the teams went into the second scoreless.

Just 35 seconds into the following frame, the Devils struck. Nick Palmieri would get 2 shots on net after the puck deflected to him, burying the second and the Devils led 1-0. Alex Kovalev would answer on a 5 on 3 power-play, taking a sweet feed from Daniel Alfredsson and tapping it in to tie the game at 1. Then, it was Robin Lehner’s turn to impress, making several big saves including a brilliant cross crease save on a Devils 2 on 1. Lehner’s saves were important as the Senators were still having trouble penetrating the Devils pressure and had a grand total of 6 shots after 2 periods of play.

The third period was back and forth with both the Sens and Devils able to mount a some offence on each other’s goaltenders. It was a fluke, however, that would determine the Sens’ fate. Dainius Zubrus’ attempt to pass to Patrik Elias would deflect off of Chris Phillips’ stick and over Robin Lehner’s shoulder to put the Devils ahead 2-1 with a little more than 5 minutes left. Those 5 minutes would be effectively killed off by the Devils and the Senators would go back to Ottawa after another tough luck loss.

The Senators didn’t play poorly but once again were unable to put the puck in the net. They controlled play for the majority of the third period and were, once again, the victim of a game-determining fluky goal. Robin Lehner was fantastic, looking big in net and making 31 saves. If the Senators’ next game wasn’t tomorrow night vs the Red Wings, I’d say he’d get the next start for sure. I doubt, however, the organization feels that playing one of the best teams in the league, a night after being on the road, is the best idea for the young 19 year old goaltender. Of course, I could be wrong.